My Blog List

Search This Blog

Friday, January 18, 2008

Wood Stock Investments

Woodland Stewardship InstitutepresentsWood StockInvestments

More than 30 years ago I started cutting trees because I was crazy about wood. I loved to make things out of it. All the varieties of species and types of wood and all their different qualities and uses fascinated me. Of course this led into the tree business. Used to take my logs to our good old friends Earl and Sally Arndt in Juliaetta Idaho. These were great memories. Earl had a sawmill he built himself along with his wood shop and various other tools he had made. Wood is so interesting. I would never tire of seeing a new pattern of grain and color with every cut. He built the most beautiful grandfather clocks. Made from walnut, cherry, ash, locust, maple, sycamore, oak, etc. We still have a lot of that wood. I kept Earl supplied with wood and my share went to my collection.

Now after all these years of collecting wood and having others saw it up, we have our own mill. Also after all these years most of the hardwood in this area is still going to waste. Hauled to the dump and buried at a high cost, or burned for firewood. This is a crime against nature. We don't believe in wasting anything. Especially our natural resources. The logistics of establishing a hardwood supply have always been overwhelming. You have to acquire trees and logs. You have to haul them. You need room for a log yard. You have to do the milling. You need acres of storage to keep it all dry. Then the marketing. And you need to acquire enough inventory so that people will learn that you have what they want when they want it. This is the strategy I've had in mind for several years. We have wood galore here. Logs and lumber and slices and slabs of wood with a potential value of hundreds of thousands of dollars. And there's a lot more where that came from. We are often paid to get rid of wood for people because no one will take it. We just need investors willing to buy inventory at 50% of minimum retail value. This way there is no debt and no risk. That equates to 30 cents a board ft. for softwoods and $1.50 a board ft. for hardwoods. The base price for good softwood is 600 dollars a thousand board ft. and hardwoods start at $3.00 a board ft. This would enable us to keep the mill going and provide steady work for 2 people. There is a risk then of having inventory you can't sell. My strategy then is. If you have a good selection and a good supply it is inevitably going to sell. You will have a certain amount of by product and surplus material to deal with. This is where the wood shop and manufacturing come in. Later we will write about the Woodland Structures Inc. and some of those inventions and ideas. Stock holders will have certain options and benefits for reclaiming their investment. They can trade back for any lumber or wood they might want at cost plus 10%. This means they can basically get the wood they want at wholesale price. Of course the other option is. When the wood sells they can make 20 or 30 % on their investment. The other part of the agreement is that we can buy the wood here on site and use it at cost plus 10% for our wood shop and manufacturing. What makes this whole thing work is the little metal dog tags that we will use to tag everything and keep track of it. See the articles below about our qualified wood program.